military

"If there is one thing the German fears more than anything else it is the bayonet charge," wrote an employee of the Keystone View Company as part of a little essay on the back of this stereocard. The card's caption reads, "Learning How to Give the Huns a Taste of American Steel."

We had a reader response to “The Best War I Ever Expect to Have: Hall County Doughboys’ Letters Home” by Daryl Webb, which ran in the Spring 2016 edition of Nebraska History. Read Dr. Frank Edler of Lincoln, NE’s response below: First, I'd like to say that I appreciated Webb's article focusing on this issue and discussing the letters of the Nebraska soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces, especially the ones dealing with the reasons for enlisting, the conditions of trench warfare, and the yearnings for returning home.

The NSHS Library/Archives Reference Staff help researchers from all over Nebraska and the world answer countless history, genealogy and research questions every day. With the vast resources available at NSHS, the answers are seemingly at our fingertips. Sometimes, however, even we the supposed experts get stumped. So, we are asking our blog and Facebook friends for a little help answering a particularly vexing question from one of our patrons.

More than five thousand U.S. Army officers and soldiers were mobilized in the weeks leading up to the Wounded Knee Massacre. The troops – sent to subdue “hostile” Indians on the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Reservations - totaled nearly a quarter of the U.S. Army’s fighting strength. In the Spring 2014 issue of Nebraska History, historian Jerome Greene explains this drastic escalation of military tension step-by-step.

NSHS has released a new book, and you could get it signed! A Brave Soldier & Honest Gentleman: Lt. James E. H. Foster in the West, 1873-1881 features the never before published journal and illustrations of junior officer James Foster, who played an important role in mapping the Black Hills. On Sunday, November 17 at 1:30 p.m., author Thomas Buecker will give a talk about Foster followed by a book signing.

Imagine your car. Now consider the amount of gas that it requires to keep it running. Picture that your car is in the middle of rural, untamed Nebraska: there are no gas stations for miles. Multiply your car into several hundred cars, and imagine you must organize a large group of men to drive them. You will be doing your best to chase down and capture men driving another group of cars. These other men know the landscape, and their cars run on grass instead of gasoline. What’s more, their drivers hate you, and attack any gas stations that you don’t guard.